This course provides a more in-depth look at the roles and responsibilities of boards of directors in the governance of nonprofit organizations. While the course has been developed with North American culture in mind, we do appreciate that in other parts of the world, the nature of the roles and responsibilities of boards of directors may not be the same. Nevertheless,it is our hope that much of the course content will still be of value to those in other parts of the world.
To learn more about this course, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://goo.gl/SXZEZS.
Keywords: Nonprofit; Nonprofit Sector; Voluntary Sector; Nonprofit Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Volunteer Organizations, Leadership, Management, Governance, Board, Board of Directors, Performance, Effectiveness
Course 2 Overview:
Week 1: Some of the questions to be explored this week are: What is the board's role in planning for the organization's future and why is it important for nonprofit organizations to do it? What is strategic planning and what can boards do to carry this out effectively?
Week 2: This week's questions: What is the board's role in assessing the performance of the organization? Why is performance assessment important? Why do many boards have difficulty meeting their performance assessment responsibilities?
Week 3: This week's questions: What are the elements of the fundraising/resource development process? What is the board's role in ensuring the organization has adequate funding? What information should be in a resource development plan?
Week 4: At this stage, you are asked to review the course content, submit a written assignment (known lightheartedly as a BEAR (Board Effectiveness Readiness Assessment), and take two multiple choice Readiness Assurance Tests (known similarly as RATs). One RAT will assess knowledge and reading comprehension and the other will test application of knowledge within a practical case.
Week 5: We will encourage you to discuss the RATs in the discussion forums and take them again should you wish to change any of your answers based on the information exchanged.

From the lesson

Assessment of Learning: BEAR Peer Review and RAT Discussion Forums

Hello, and Welcome to Week 5! The goal of this week is to discuss and complete the end of Course 2 assessment of learning. It begins with peer discussion of the individual Readiness Assurance Test (RAT) and RAT Application Exercise (case) you took last week plus peer review of the three BEAR assignments you have been assigned to evaluate this week. It concludes with re-taking the RAT and RAT Application Exercise Tests and returning the three BEAR assignments you peer-reviewed last week.